Updated Posts...

These posts are updated with pictures and/or information.  Check them out!


Tour Day: VIDEO included!
http://cbczimbabwe.blogspot.com/2012/03/tour-day.html


Ministry Day 2:
http://cbczimbabwe.blogspot.com/2012/03/ministry-day-2.html


Saturday:
http://cbczimbabwe.blogspot.com/2012/03/saturday-kwekwe-hospital-bulawayo.html


Testimonies:
http://cbczimbabwe.blogspot.com/2012/03/testimonies.html


Tuesday Ministry:
http://cbczimbabwe.blogspot.com/2012/03/tuesday-ministries.html


Wednesday - Last Full Day:
http://cbczimbabwe.blogspot.com/2012/03/wednesday-last-full-day.html

Children's Camp in Hope Fountain

Greetings from Zim,

I hope you managed to rest after your visit to this
country. We would like to hereby inform you and ask you to pray for our
Children`s Church leaders who have organized to run a mini-camp for
children as from Monday afternoon to Wednesday afternoon next week at
Peniel centre. Please pray for Justice who is leading it especially that he
will remain strong as he has been running around trying to put things
together. The theme of the camp comes from Luke 2:52, that Jesus grew in
wisdom ,stature, favor with God and man and the aim is to point these

children to Christ who is their model for growth.

Pray that we will be able to minister effectively to the children since we
are going to have some children who have never been to Church before. Thank
you very much for training and igniting the zeal in some of our
people like Khumbu to reach out to children and we are now targeting all

the children from the community to be touched by the word of God.

Blessings,

Gideon

Trip 2012 Feedback

To CBC Team,

 

It's actually us that need to be saying the THANK YOU'S to you guys.  You blessed us so much by being willing to come over and take the time to see what we are doing, stand alongside us and input into our lives and the lives of those we seek to serve.

 

We appreciate you all, and from all at 'Mind the Gap', a huge thank you for the time spent, the teaching given and the fun had.

 

I like the bit about us seeing you this year Robin!!  We know you can't keep away for long!!

 

No seriously whenever you are able to come we will be looking forward to your visit.

 

Every blessing to Carroll Baptist Church and to all your families, please thank them from us for allowing you to be away so you could minister to us.

 

With grateful thanks, Jenny

Dear Team

We would like to thank you friends for leaving your comfort ,your friends ,children etc and come to Zim to be a blessing to us . We thank you for all the encouragement , input and the way you impacted us with the gospel. We are profoundly grateful for the way you  challenged us to live Christ centred lives , have Christ centred homes and lead Christ centred churches and we are quiet sure that though the time was short but  our lives, homes and churches will never be the same again.

Jennifer and myself have been very much encouraged by the testimonies that we have heard from the leaders in the community especially on how the conference changed their worldviews on having a Christ centred family . Some of them have been proposing to us to consider running marriage seminars on monthly basis as a follow up to the challenge they got during the conference. Apart from the testimonies of adults ,we have had 2 children giving testimonies on the three lessons they learnt during the conference, and we would like to say thank you to you  all as  the team for impacting and transforming lives in this country.

One of our children`s teachers is very much motivated that he has decided to run a children`s camp next week as a follow up to what Robin challenged them with, and this is  going to be followed up by children` s weekly bible study times. Please pray for us that the fire that was ignited in us will continue to burn unto eternity and that we will make an eternal impact on those that we lead.

We pray the favor and blessings of God to be upon all the members of Carroll Baptist Church and all your families for releasing you to come to minister to us here in Zim.

Blessings

Gideon & Jennifer  

Wednesday - Last Full Day

The Lord had surprises in store for this last full day.  We began separated as a team at various locations in the morning...half of us went to Ramona's weekly Wednesday morning Bible study and the other half went to take Lucy to meet Gideon and Jennifer in order to have tea with the Head Mistress of the school...or so we thought.  The school actually wanted the whole team to come and have tea as a thank you to our involvement with them.  And what a treat it was!  It was such a blessing to see how Gideon and Jennifer are unifying and working with the school and in turn the community to build trust and faith in the Lord's work for the entirety of Hope Fountain.

 Above: Lucy at the tea with the Head Mistress

Below: Lucy and all the teachers of Mthombothemba Primary School

We then as a team went to visit Sandra Jones.  A few of us had been but the rest of us were deeply touched by the work of Debbie and Tammy for the girls and other children taken out of abuse.  Their joy is not only contagious but also a testimony of what only the Spirit of God can do in the life that's been broken.  

Tuesday Ministries

Bulawayo Baptist Rural Pastor’s Conference... 15 pastors from surrounding villages.  The church supports these pastors in various ways; headed by Associate Pastor Chris.  These men, too, were hungry for the Word and knowledge.  They, too, asked for us to come longer, and to let them know so they can ask more church leaders to come.  They are so, so hungry...

 Bulawayo Baptist Soup Kitchen... Kathy and Kay helped the twice a week ministry serve the poorest of the poor in the church’s feeding ministry.   They served 125 on Tuesday.

Sandra Jones... These children are all saved from lives of sexual abuse.  The little ones too and the babies whom are born from the abuse.  Debbie is the director and Tammy Scorzeill has been extremely involved since her and her husband coming here a year ago.  They do an amazing job.  Please be praying for them as they seek funding in order to move closer to town by buying a beautiful hotel called Del Rio.  They would be able to house many, many more girls.  In the past 10 years they’ve had over 300 come through... A very needed and powerful ministry.

Plumtree Village Pastor's Conference

Steve said it was an experience; from the star gazing to seeing God move in the seminar, Plumtree served as an affirmation as to why we are here in Africa.  They were glad to truly be able to experience primitive village life.  They said it was exhausting for them simply because of having to live in survival mode for 2 days and the uncertainty of life.  The conference took place at one of the homesteads in the village in a 10X10 room with about 50 men, women and children.

The joy of knowing each pastor will be going back to their congregations taking with them a renewed confidence in the gospel.  The impact God is doing goes farther than what the eyes can see.

Ebenezer Home Bible Club

Auntie Traci telling the Bible story... "Serve one another." Galatians 5:13

 Kay with Tinashe...he participated in the entire morning with all the kids! (pretty unusual)

 THe children washed each others' feet and then their Auntie's feet...precious.

Testimonies

JASON

Immediately after Jason shared his testimony on Sunday night, Pastor Jeff asked the youth if anyone had any questions.  One question asked was why he decided to come to Zimbabwe.  He explained that he was truly uncertain until a day he heard testimonies on the radio about girls sold into the sex slave business in a country in Africa touching him deeply until he was weeping.  That evening at the Africa team meeting was when Pastor Steve gave the news that we have the opportunity to go to a place in Bulawayo called the Sandra Jones Center which was for girls abused in the same way.  He knew then that was his confirmation to go to Africa.

Immediately after sharing this, a woman in the audience at the youth service stood up and asked him about his older brother whom him had shared about.  She asked to pray for him and did so on the spot.  Turns out, this was Debbie the director of Sandra Jones.  She came to Jason after the service promising to continue praying for Chris to turn his life over to Jesus.  Isn’t God amazing!!

TRACI

Traci shared at one of our Wednesday night Africa meetings before we left that her goal was to plant seeds of the gospel in the children of the Mind the Gap orphan homes.  She was praying for at least one to come to Christ while she was there and after she had had her Bible Clubs.  Monday afternoon at the Windles home, 2 girls came to Christ!  Pray for Angela and Primrose  as they begin their walk with Jesus!

Angela...

Primrose...pray also for her as she struggles in school because of being paralyzed & having head trauma form being hit by a car at the age of 3...

A Day in Pictures

Lunch at the Motsi's

Jason and Kay enjoying yet another cup o' tea... We may float home we've had so much! 

 But it's oh, so good!!

 Jason helping Tina learn how to ride a bike.  Pray for Tina as she suffered much this past year from arthritis...they almost lost her...

 This is Sharon.  She is now Sheila and John's, whom we are living with.  She is the sweetest.  They decided to take her in about 3 years ago after she was abandoned.  A common story.

 Kathy and Angela Motsi with Tina Motsi.  Angela cooked all our dinners last year and all the lunch food this day...the sweetest lady!!

 A sweet fellowship with a mix of ethnicities, races, colors, and cultures - Shona, N'debelle, American, English, Australian.... a taste of what heaven will be like!

Sunday in Zimbabwe

Steve preached at Bulawayo Baptist.  His message was "To live is Christ?" And challenged us in asking how we would fill in "To me to live is_______."  Very powerful and gospel-driven.  Then he, Greg and Ricky left with Pastor Cosmos for Plumtree's pastor's conference.  The rest of the team went to a "brie" lunch with many church members and another mission team.  It was an sweet time of fellowship and laughter...and of course, tea.  Then Traci and Jason gave their testimonies at the youth service back at the church in the evening.  (Pics to come ...)

Saturday - 2nd Chance Rehabilitation Centre

While the rest of the team were in groups in town and in Kwe Kwe, Pastor Steve had the privilege to take a tour of our host John Derks' ministry called Second Chance Rehabilitaion Centre.  This is a Christian halfway home for the after-care of ex-prisoners which provides Christ-centered rehabilitation and life skills training to help empower and integrate them back into society.  This is made possible by donors from the community in order for participants to be self-supportive.  As of March 2012 they have about 50 participants.

As of now they have a tailor shop and are making 

uniforms for a company.  The next project in the works is to build a construction warehouse to build coffins.  And eventually they would like to add a poultry area for raising chickens for eggs and meat selling.  Amazingly enough God has ALREADY provided the buyers of all these entities, they just need the funds to get going on each project! 

Saturday - KweKwe Hospital & Bulawayo Baptist Women's Conference

Will write more later...but here's some of the day in pictures!

Saturday Bulawayo Baptist Women's Conference:

Ties! Recognize any?

The pastors at Hope Fountain were so excited when they saw the ties and it was like watching kids in a candy store as they choose their favorite!

Friday - Last Day at Hope Fountain

What a powerful day.  God proved his character as Jehovah Jireh!  From providing the extra toothbrushes needed to complete the filling of the ladies bags to His Spirit leading Lucy to already have gathered and brought to teach just what the children were learning, our God provides, in His time, in His ways, and by faith.

Highlights from today were having Jason and Kay join the team at Hope Fountain to experience their worship and meet more of our brothers and sisters in Christ here in Africa.  It was an amazing time and singing and dancing before the Lord!  You’ll see later on video that there were high-kicks involved...but you can guess they weren’t by any of us!

The men continued their teaching, taking the afternoon session to a homestead of a church member.  Greg and Steve experienced God’s mighty power describing how all 30 of them filled an empty 12X12 room singing “How Great is Our God” together.  They said it was truly an experience that cannot be expressed by words.

Robin had a powerful experience with her last day with her teachers at the homestead of another church member...overlooking the hills and her maize garden.  The hunger for the word to teach their children in their churches is still indescribable. The first day she had 9 and by the last day she had 14!  At Bible club in the afternoon the number of children grew from 76 to 103...all in a school classroom!  She has an amazing story of confirmation in coming to Zimbabwe to share when we return...

Kathy too had another fabulous day of teaching and sharing who our God is with the women.  They are amazed at her openness and they all fell in love with one another this week.  

  Kathy giving out the ladies' bags...

It was such a blessing to give all the participants their certificates of completion and all the ladies their gift sacks!  They were so excited to receive them and it was an honor to see how our church women back home was blessing the women here in Zimbabwe without even having been here! Pictures to come....(hopefully!).  The children’s materials were also divided up among the churches to their leaders and were they ready to receive those!  Robin heard stories throughout the days of how they had used up every bit of the resources we provided last year....just waiting to be replenished.  Thank you church!!

Traci had a successful and Spirit-filled day at Windles as she shared the Gospel and planted the seed of trusting in Jesus as their Savior when they feel led by Him.  She will continue to water those seeds in prayer and one more time with them on Monday.

And to add to yesterday...Pastor Steve gave the men the bag of ties and it was an awesome thing to watch them pull them out with grins from ear to ear, look them over and try and choose the best that went with their coat that day (possibly the only coat they own).  Many were proudly wearing them today.... blessed.  Again, hopefully pictures to come....

Ministry Day 2

What a wonderful 2nd day of ministry!

Group 1 of Steve, Kathy, Greg, Robin, Ricky and Lucy headed back for their 2nd of 3 days in Hope Fountain ministering to the pastors, ladies, church childrenʼs teachers, and school teachers. There are many villages represented including a group around 200 miles away and one from the border of Mozambique! The ties we collected were shared and what a site that was...they were so exctied, like kids in a candy store picking out their favorites! The women will get their gift bags tomorrow, our last day.

We are amazed at their worship and at their hunger for the Word. We hear high reviews for the teachings of Greg, Steve and Kathy with the ladies. She told us they had an amazing time of worship on their own after the men left...as Kathy said, “As the men ʻgot downʼ this morning in worship, the women ʻgot downʼ after they left! There is an amazing bonding going on...todayʼs womenʼs seminar ended with prayer first for the widows followed by prayer for the mothers of young children.

Robinʼs childrenʼs teachers really opened up about questions they had in organizing and training their children...her day seemed much more productive and relaxed as they all got to know one another. The teachers and her join together and do Bible club to the children, many who are orphans. Itʼs neat to watch the teachers teach the curriculum she planned. They have had about 80! Lucy spent her day in grade 0, which is our kindergarten, helping the teacher who had 44 children on her own that day!

Jason spent the day essentially with another mission team here from Australia and England doing construction on one of the orphan homes we visited on Tuesday. Kay continued to spend time with Tinashe and his caregivers. Pray as she feels they still are having difficulty understanding how much he really can accomplish and if they will continue the work with him after she leaves. Traci did her second day of Bible club at the orphan home which Kay said was “fabulous!”

Thank you for your continued prayers. Traci will continue her ministering and Bible clubs at the orphan homes while the rest will be at Hope Fountain so Jason and Kay can experience the worship and ministry going on out there. Pray for rest, perseverance and continued cohesiveness that the Lord is building amongst our group...we both laugh and cry a lot together!

Schools, Sandra Jones, Orphan Homes

Traci at Ebenezer with Maureen and Awakiwe

Lucy gave donated toothbrushes and toothpaste.

Jason and Traci also spent time at Sandra Jones listening to Tammy share the Bible story and hearing them sing...video to come upon return!

Ministry Day 1

Today was Day 1 of ministry.

Pastor Steve and Greg ministered to the pastors and Ricky led worship with about 30 men pastors and about 40 women.  Robin ministered to the church children’s teachers, 9 of them - 3 the same from last year, at the orphanage the church runs down the road.  Lucy was just a little bit away at the village school and had a wonderful time with the head mistress (principal) explaining how she was wanting to minister with the teachers and children the next 2 days.  She said it was very successful.

Kathy then took just the women in the afternoon after lunch.  There was not enough food because more came than planned so thanks to Angie we ate on our variety of snacks!!  We were told by Sheila tonight that the reaction Kathy received to her ministering which at first was a bit of shock turning to weeping and hugging is because women pastors here do not open up because of their high place of status and respect among the church people.  Sheila said they were probably in awe of the openness of her and that it will really produce much fruit with them.  God is so good.

The pastors and the children’s teachers ended up at the school in the afternoon since the ladies were using the church.  Robin had about 80 children (with more watching on who do not normally attend the church for their daily feeding of the children) for the Bible club.  Her 10 teachers took what she had planned and it was fun to watch them in their own unique environment!

Kay had a successful day at both Mind the Gap orphanages and says despite what Tinashe’s caregivers have said, he CAN learn and they will focus on potty training...which is the beginning of a possible several year process.  But we have a miracle-working GOD so PRAY for sooner!  She also enjoyed getting to know all the children and visiting with the caregivers.

Traci and Jason spent their morning at the Sandra Jones Centre.  They participated in Tammy’s (Pastor Jeff’s wife) Bible story time with about 60 girls and boys...they are working their way through the story of Joseph.  They also experienced a wonderful and awesome time of worship listening to them sing to their Lord.  Jason said it was amazing and videoed every minute!

(Hope to have pics of these too when I get their camera cards!);)

We are thankful for what God is doing and please keep praying.  Traci was out in her back tonight and struggling with it daily.  A few are still a bit jet lagged and the feeling of being overwhelmed by the need to depend on the Lord is great. And that is a good thing.  You will be glad to know prayers for Kay have been answered...there were no and still are no fears or anxieties about ANYthing!!  Also Greg’s bag came in yesterday (Tuesday).  We are learning to depend on Him more and more... He is our Jehovah-Jireh, our Provider.  It is about HIM and we ARE seeing HIM WORK!